Category Archives: Recipe

Wired for Sound! #recipe #brownies

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So this morning saw me chatting to the imitable food presence that is William Sitwell on his “Biting Talk” show on Soho Radio. Some of you may recognise him from such things as the Mastechef food critics table, or from Waitrose Kitchen magazine. By the by, conversation ranged from cupcakes (of course!) to beards (well why not) to cartoon franchising (you’ll just have to listen for that one!) If you missed out here’s the link below for you aural delectation…

As only expected for #thebeardedbaker I brought along some baked goods for sampling. Yes, I know it was only 9am in the morning but (a bit like gin!) it’s always cake o’clock somehwere in there world. So the team at Soho Radio had the pleasure (I hope!) of trying out two new recipes for brownies and cupcakes-

cupcakes

My “Hot n Smoky” caramel cupcakes of caramel sponge filled with a smoked caramel centre, topped with caramel buttercream frosting and sriracha cinder toffee shards.


Brownies

Chocolate  Cherry & Cheesecake Brownies- Chocolate, Cherry and double-chocolate brownies topped with White Chocolate & Pink Peppercorn Cheescake

In the event that these have piqued your intrest and tingled your tastebuds here’s the recipe for the Chocolate Cherry brownies. Do bear in mind that these are exceptionally rich- a chocolate motherload not for the faint-hearted! As such I recommend cutting them down into half the traditional brownie size.

Chocolate Cherry & Pink Peppercorn Cheesecake Brownies
Makes 18 (deep pan) or 40 (shallow pan)

Ingredients
185g unsalted butter 185g, cubed
185g 70% cocoa dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3 eggs
275g caster sugar
85g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
1 tbsp Espresso powder
50g 70% cocoa dark chocolate chunks
50g white chocolate chunks
100g glace cherries, halved
1 egg
280g cream cheese
60g caster sugar
3 tbsp pink peppercorns, lightly crushed
50g white chocolate chunks

Method

  • Set your oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and line a deep 12″x9″ baking tray with baking parchment. * See note for brownie numbers
  • Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (or bain-marie), stirring occasionally. Once melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool.
  • Beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture is thickened and fluffy.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, and espresso powder.
  • Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
  • Sieve in the dry ingredients, and fold together.
  • Fold in the chocolate chunks and cherries until well combined.
  • Pour your mixture into the lined tray and gently spread to level the surface.
  • For the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese, caster sugar, and egg in a separate bowl until smooth.
  • Melt the white chocolate (either over hot water or in a microwave in short bursts).
  • Add the pink peppercorns and melted chocolate into the cheesecake mixture and mix well.
  • Pour/ place blobs of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate brownie mixture.
  • Swirl with a knife or a skewer to create a marbled effect throughout the batter
  • Place in the oven for 35-40 minutes, then leave to cool completely in the tin before removing from the tin or cutting into squares.
  • Leave to cool, then serve.

*If you use a 12” x 9” tin you will get 20 brownies (cutting 4 x 5) and then divide further down in half to give you 40 brownie “bars”. If you use a 9” x 9” silicone brownie pan (available from Lakleand) you’ll get 9 deeper brownies which you can cut down in half to give you 18 brownie “bars”.

 

#Recipe Ricotta Pancakes- 3 ways

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Pancake Tuesday to me is synonymous with one flavour conbination- Jif Lemon and sugar. Not caster sugar but granulated, and heaven forbid the juice be fresh. Nay! It had to come from a plastic lemon of the sqeezable variety.  This cheek-puckering combination of crunchy sugar and citrus instantly bringing back childhood memories of playground squabbles about the quantities of pancakes consumed before school. Who cared of it was only 11am!?! Somehow you had persuaded your parents to let you scoff gargantuan amounts of fried batter for breakfast. Times have changed and I now realise there is more to life than lemon juice and sugar- just about! So here’s my recipe for ricotta pancakes with a variety of serving suggestions. Try one…or try them all! Either way I hope you enjoy.

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Ricotta Pancakes

200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 large egg, beaten
200ml whole milk
250g tub ricotta cheese
1 tbsp rapeseed oil

  • Put the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.
  • Make a well in the middle, then pour in the egg and a splash of milk.
  • Gradually mix the flour into the liquid until starting to combine.
  • Mix in the rest of the milk in three stages until you have a smooth batter, then beat in the ricotta with a whisk.
  • Heat the rapeseed oil in a large non-stick frying pan until hot.
  • Spoon in a small laddle full of batter, spaced well apart, to make pancakes about 10cm across.
  • Cook on medium heat for 2-3 mins until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip over with a palette knife and cook for 2-3 more mins until golden. Set aside and keep warm; cook the rest of the batter.
  • Stack the pancakes, with baking parchment between, and keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve.

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1 ways- Spiced Orange

150ml orange juice

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek

1/2 teaspoon caraway seed

4 cardamom pods, crushed

1 large orange, sliced

Caster sugar

  • Gently warm the spices in a pan until the frangrance is released.
  • Add in the orange juice and caster sugar.
  • Continue to gently heat until the sugar is disolved. Set aside to cool and infuse before use.
  • While the sauce is cooling, sprinkle the orange slices with caster sugar. Using a cook’s torch, carmalise the sugar on the slices until the sugar is bubbling, burnished and a deep amber in color. Alternatley you can heat under a high grill until the sugar reaches the same stage as with the torch.
  • Arrange a copule of slices of orange on top of your pancakes and drizzle with the spiced orange sauce. (I’ve drizzle some around the palte and used a pipette to allow the sauce to be “injected” into the stack)

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2 ways- Mango with Rosemary, Basil & Lime

75g fresh mango, chopped roughly

4 tablespoons waster

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 tablesppon lime juice

1 small spirg fresh rosemary

3 large basil leaves

  • In a pan combine the liquids and caster sugar.
  • Add the rosemary spirg and chop in the basil leaves.
  • Heat until the sugar has disolved and the on point of boiling.
  • Remove from the heat and allow to cool fully and infuse for at least a couple of hours.
  • When fully cooled, strain into a bowl to remove the herbs. Toss in the mango pieces.
  • Top a stack of panckes with some of the mango, and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche.

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3 ways- Smoky Chocolate sauce with bourbon & pecan

50g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa content

25g butter

120ml double cream

1 tablespoon bourbon whiskey

1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

25g chopped pecans, lightly toasted

  • Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (or in a microwave in short bursts) until smooth and fully melted. Remove from the heat.
  • Heat the butter, double cream, bourbon whiskey and liquid smoke in a small saucepan until evenly combined.
  • Remove from the heat and stir through the melted chocolate until fully combined. When fully mixed add in the pecan nuts.
  • Pour generously over your pancakes and sprinkle with some additional chopped pecans.

#Recipe: Chocolate, Guinness & Black Garlic Bundt cake with Smoked Chocolate glaze

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So I’ve (eventually) gotten around to posting this recipe- massive apologies for the delay. This cake first started out as an experiment using black garlic and was finished with a salted caramel sauce and served with forest fruits. I wanted to create something that looked and tasted indulgent but had a slight edginess to it- nothing too frou-frou! For me it was a Gothic romance in cake form. Time moved on and so did the recipe development. I replaced the salted caramel with a chocolate glaze but wanted to still keep my (signature) twist. And so liquid smoke was added. Depending on how much you use, this wonderful ingredient adds a tasty smoky flavour and in this case married really well with the black garlic of the bundt. It’s availble online or from good food ingredient stores.

iness; Chocolate and Black Garlic Bundt

The original version of the Chocolate, Guinness & Black Garlic bundt cake

Bundt cake mixture

375g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

70g unsweetened cocoa powder

225g butter, softened

110g unsalted butter, chopped and softened

600g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 eggs

125ml milk

125ml Guinness stout (from a bottle as opposed to a can)

6 cloves black garlic, chopped

100g dark chocolate chips or pieces

Chocolate glaze

12 Tablespoons icing sugar

4 teaspoons whole milk

1 tablespoon liquid smoke

*this mixtures makes enough for a very ample bundt cake (using a 25cm tin) or 2 standard sized ones (I used Nordicwares Fleur De Lis and Anniversary tins)

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To make the bundt cake

  • Preheat the oven to 170 C. Grease and flour  your Bundt cake tin(s)- or if your like me spray the inside with cake release spray.
  • Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa together into a bowl and place to one side.
  • In a jug combine the milk and the Guinness. Set
  • In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream butter, margarine, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. (A tip here is to keep beating until you can no longer feel the sugar grains between you fingers).
  • Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour mixture alternately with the milk/Guinness mixture. Mix to combine.
  • Add in the chopped black garlic cloves and chocolate chips. Mix well.
  • Pour into your prepared Bundt tin(s). Bake in the preheated oven for 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely before glazing.

To make the glaze

  • Combine all the ingredients in a jug and mix well to combine until smooth. The mixture should fall easily from  your whisk and leave a slowly sinking trail in the bowl. If you find the mixture too stiff add some more milk in 1/2 teaspoon increments.

To finish

  • Place the cake on a cooling rack with some foil or baking parchment underneath to catch the drips.
  • Drizzle or paint the glaze onto the fully cooled cake until coated.
  • Spinkle with finishing decoration of you choice.
  • Slice, serve and enjoy!2015-11-18 16.55.00-1

 

 

#Recipe: Alternative #BonfireNight Toffee Apples

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As a child I loved Toffee Apples. That sweet, sticky “crack” sound giving way to the tart crispness of a ripe apple. They were alway saved as a treat on a seaside trip. As such it’s one of my most vivid memories of childhood- the tickle of juice running down my chin as seawater wafted on the air, and overhead gulls wheeled and cried. Upon moving here to the UK I became aware that toffee apples were a treat for an altogether different occasion. They were a long-standing part and parcel of November 5th’s Guy Fawkes Bonfire celebrations along with parkin; treacle toffee and sparklers.

Never being one to settle for the “norm” I decided to do a twist on the familiar idea of the  “Toffee Apple”. It also provided me with a rather nice opportunity to try out some of Joe & Seph’s rather wonderful new caramel sauces. And so I present my take on bonfire toffee apples.

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Alternative Toffee Apples

Makes 6

Ingredients

6 Granny Smiths apples, cored

50g jumbo oats

25g chopped dates

25g dried pear, chopped

20g ground almonds

20g hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

3 heaped tablespoons Joe & Seph’s Salted Caramel sauce

To finish

Joe & Seph’s Salted Caramel sauce

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Method

  • Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
  • Score the apples with a knife halfway up and fully around. Be carefull not to slice them the full way through.
  • In a bowl mix the remaining ingredients until fully combined.
  • Stuff the apple cavities with the oat mixture until full. You can use a spoon but the easiest way I’ve found is just using (clean) hands. Messiest…but easiest.
  • Place the stuffed apples into an oven proof dish and place in your preheated oven, on a rack in the middle.
  • Bake for 35-40 mins depending on your apple texture preference. I prefer mine to be just the “soft-side of solid” (if that makes any sens?) so I bake for 35 mins. If you prefer them softer bake for a little longer. Be careful however as you don’t really want them to be “mushy”.
  • Once baked, remove from oven and place individually on serving plates, and pour over some more Joe & Seph’s Salted Caramel sauce. Again the amount depends on taste. You may like a little- I prefer a LOT!
  • Serve the covered “toffee apples” with vanilla ice cream or I also like to have a dollop of Greek yogurt to the side.

Enjoy!

If you’re looking for another alternative Bonfire Night treat then why not try my take on treacle toffee – Fennel Seed & Black Garlic Toffee?

#Recipe Chocolate & Orange Polenta Cake #glutenfree #noaddedsugar

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Massive apologies for the delay in posting this recipe . But fear not! I am back in the kitchen and fervently baking and typing away. Albeit not at the same time! This recipe certainly seems to have proven popular and many thanks for your patience and enthusiasm in wanting to see the recipe.

So this is part of my #TheGreatBeardedBakeOff recipes and it ties in with the  “Alternative Ingredients” challenge. The first challenge of the show was to create a Sugar-Free bake and I instantly knew what I wanted to make. Whilst most of the contestants chose to use syrups and honey to replace the sugar, I was surprised no one chose alternative sweeteners like Xylitol or Stevia? Anytime I need to bake “FreeFrom” bakes, number 1 on my go to list is Xylitol. Derived from the Birch tree it’s a sugar replacement that can be substituted like-for-like for sugar and is suitable for diabetics. In this recipe I hesitate to use the term “Sugar Free” in the title as there is still sugar present from the fruit there’s no sugar added where normally there would be.

I had also recently taken a trip to Borough Market (my goodness how I had missed the place!) and got my hands on some fantastic rose water and orange blossom water from Saveur de Maroc (both products winners of this years Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Awards). If you haven’t tried these waters then I seriously recommend you do. Highly floral but pure and light, they are distinctly refreshing and lack that acrid, artificial back-note that can be present in some brands of these exotic flavourings. Safe to say these are going to be a permanent fixture in my kitchen. Next on my list is trying their Argan Oil!

Soooo… I digress! My recent purchases provided inspiration for this recipe- a visit to a luxurious souk, the air wafting with the heady smell of oranges; stalls laid out before you abundant with figs and chocolate. You get the scene? And here we are…(did I mention as well as low sugar, it’s also gluten free!)

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Chocolate & Orange Polenta Cake with figs and orange blossom glaze

Cake Batter

2 large oranges

250g xylitol

6 eggs

100g ground almonds

200g polenta

50g good quality cocoa

1 tablespoon good quality chocolate extract, eg Nielsen Massey

4 firm, fresh figs

To decorate

2 tablespoons xlylitol

1 tablespoon Orange Blossom water, eg Saveur de Maroc

Method

To make the batter

– Prepare a 23cm spring-form cake tin by either greasing or spray with cake release spray, and lining th base.

– Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/ gas 4. Divide the oranges into quarters and blitz them in a food processor, to a pulp.

– Add in the xylitol, eggs, ground almonds and polenta and blitz in the processor until well combined.

– From the processor bowl, ladle half of the cake batter into your prepared tin.

– To the remainder of the cake batter, still in the food processor bowl, add the cocoa and chocolate extract. Replace the lid and blitz until well combined.

– At this point you can place ladlefuls of the chocolate batter into the tin and swirl with the orange batter to create a marbled effect. I prefer to use a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle and fill it with the chocolate batter. This allows me to pipe dollops of chocolate batter into the orange batter as well as on top of it. Once you have added the chocolate batter by either method use a skewer to swirl and create the marbled effect.

– Slice the figs into rounds- not too thin. I normally try slicing each fruit into 4 slices. Lay the fig slices on top of the cake in a pattern of your choosing.

– Place the cake tin into your preheating oven and bake for 40 to 45 mins. Check to see that top isn’t charring. Check that the cake is done by using a clean skewer test.

– Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in it’s tin on a wire rack.

– Whilst the cake is cooling, make the glaze by gently heating the xylitol with the orange blossom water. Heat until the xylitol has been dissolved. Leave to cool for 2-3 minutes.

– Gently brush the glaze over the cooling cake, on top of both sponge and fig fruits.

– Once the cake has cooled completely, remove from it’s tin and lining.

– Serve and enjoy! (Ideally with some Moroccan mint tea!)

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